第十二章
原文：五色令人目眩，五音令人耳聋，五味令人口爽，驰骋畋猎，令人心发狂，难得之货，令人行妨。是以圣人为腹不为目，故去彼取此。
罗汉乱弹琴：上一章老子讲在特定条件下，空无比实有的效用更大。举了房子为例，对老子的这一比喻，有时候外国人比我们中国人感悟更深。1946年，梁思成作为联合国总部建筑选址委员会的中国代表出访美国，专程去拜访了世界著名的现代建筑大师美国人赖特。赖特问他：“你到美国来的目的是什么？”梁思成说：“是来学习建筑理论的”。赖特对梁思成挥着手说：“回去！最好的建筑理论在中国”。接着他就背诵了《老子》“凿户牖以为室，当其无，有室之用”这段话。对梁思成说这就是世界上“最好的建筑理论“。这位美国人后来，还把老子的这段话作为校训，写在了他创办的校园墙上。我举这个例，是想说，外国人学习《老子》比中国人更能悟，要知道梁思成的确是我国了不起的建筑大师哟。
到这一章，老子在此基础上更进一步阐发简单与繁复的利弊辩证。
五色令人目眩，五音令人耳聋，五味令人口爽——青、赤、黄、白、黑构成复杂的颜色，最终会令人目不暇接、眼花缭乱而晕眩；宫、商、角、徵、羽，五种声音混响，最终只能导致耳聋；酸、甜、苦、辣、咸，重口味的食物，最终会让人失去口味（爽：是很快失去的意思）。
驰骋畋猎，令人心发狂，难得之货，令人行妨——驰骋打猎，声色犬马，只会让人心思狂野无度，高标稀少的货物，很有可能激发想非法占有的动机，做出不该做的行为。
是以圣人为腹不为目，故去彼取此——所以，圣人讲究实效（吃饱），不追求形式的花哨好看，舍弃无谓消耗生命糟蹋生命的虚饰，谨行健身养生之事。
读到这里，想想我们今天的社会，五色，五音，五味，各种能挑起人们物质享受的招数，不断充斥城乡，不断铺满媒体，不断泛滥网络，已经令人目眩，已经令人耳聋，已经令人口感麻木。麻木吧，麻木吧，只要不在麻木中死去，就定会在麻木中醒来。
Luohan comprehension：
In the last chapter，Lao-Tzu emphasise that ethereal is much effectiveness than reality under certain conditions. Such as the house，sometimes the foreigner with a deep sense than Chinese by metaphor of Lao-Tzu. In 1946，Liang Sicheng visit the United States whom as the Chinese representative of the UN Headquarters Building Site Committee，he come to visit Wright whom is the world-famous modern architects of America. Wright asked him what is the reason for vsiting the U.S.? Liang Sicheng replied him he came to learn the architectural theory. While Wright waved and said：“go back！The best architectural theory is in China”. Then he recited the articles of Lao-Tzu：“凿户牗以为室，当其无，有室之用”（open doors and windows on the wall，so the house can be useful）He then said to Liang Sicheng，this is the best architectural theory. Later the America take the motto of Lao-Tzu as the school motto and then wrote it on the wall of the campus. What I meant by that example was this，the foreigner has a better comprehension than Chinese on the book《Lao-Tzu》. You know，Liang Sicheng was really a master builders of China.
In this chapter，Lao-Tzu had further articulated the simple and complicated pros and cons.
五色令人目眩，五音令人耳聋，五味令人口爽——The colours of five hues（green、red、yellow、white and black） blinds the eyes；The music of five notes（gong、shang、jiao、zhi、yu） deafens the ears；The flavours of five（sour、sweet 、bitter、hot and salty）dulls the plate.
驰骋畋猎，令人心发狂，难得之货，令人行妨——The chariot course，and the wild hunting waste. Make mad the mind；and objects rare and strange. Sought for，men’s conduct will to evil change.
是以圣人为腹不为目，故去彼取此——Therefore the sage seeks to satisfy（the carving of）the belly，and not the （insatiable longing of the eyes）. He puts from him the latter，and prefers to seek the former.
By the time you read this ，think of today’s society，the five colour，five notes and the five flabvours，realize that mass media was plastered with advertisement. The five colour，five notes and the fiver flabvours，get to the dizzy、deaf and numb.
2011年12月25日星期日于富力湾
